Pupille (2018)
Directed by Jeanne Herry

Film Review

In 2014, first-time director Jeanne Herry won considerable praise from the critics for her debut feature Elle l'adore (2014), a quirky black comedy centred on the mutual dependency that develops between a pop star and his most devoted fan.  For her second feature, Pupille (a.k.a. In Safe Hands), she shifts to a completely different groove and offers an account of France's system of anonymous adoption that is both sentimentally charged and incredibly instructive.  Painstakingly researched, the film follows the laborious process of adoption in meticulous detail, and for anyone unfamiliar with the system it is a genuine eye-opener.  In case you were wondering, the film's title Pupille is the French term given to a child once it is taken into care by the state.

Running alongside this near-documentary presentation of the tortuous mechanism of adoption is a fictional narrative which shows us the human side of the equation - the concerns of those employed in the adoption and child welfare services, and the psychological torment of the prospective parents of adopted children.  In this adept juxtaposition of a coldly mechanical process and an agonising human saga, Herry reveals herself to be not only an exemplary auteur filmmaker, but also an astute and truly compassionate chronicler of the human condition.  Few other French films of 2018 had quite the emotional impact of Pupille.

Élodie Bouchez, one of the outstanding divas of French auteur cinema, gives the film a searing emotional punch through her utterly convincing portrayal of a young middle-aged woman desperate to adopt a child.  It is a remarkable performance that conveys so vividly the torrent of inner confusion, hope wrestling with anxiety, that candidate adoptive parents cannot avoid when they submit themselves to this gruelling process of adoption.  Other arresting performances are supplied by Sandrine Kiberlain, no less convincing as a committed social worker, and Gilles Lellouche, touchingly humane as a foster carer who has serious reservations about his work.  The prestigious principal cast is supported by some other notable performers, including  Jean-François Stévenin, Bruno Podalydès and Miou-Miou (the director's mother, another superlative actress).

Impressive as the performances are it is the relentlessly authentic documentary aspect of Pupille that most grabs your attention.  The fictional interludes, whilst they add substance to the characters, are less involving and at times feel weighed down by forced emotionality.  That Herry manages to meld these two aspects of the film so successfully, and with such emotional force, is testament to her skill both as a writer and a director.  The film was another hit with the critics and was justly nominated for seven Césars in 2019, in categories that included Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress (Bouchez and Kiberlain). Going by her first two films, we can expect great things from Jeanne Herry.

Film Synopsis

Knowing that she is incapable of bringing up her newborn baby boy herself, a young mother offers it up to the adoption service who are then tasked with finding a suitable home for him.  The mother has just two months to change her mind; during this time, the adoption and child welfare services are busily engaged in preparing the way for the boy's adoption.  There is no shortage of candidates who are desperate to adopt a child, but little baby Théo is destined for only one of them.  One potential adoptive mother is Alice Langlois, a woman in her early forties who has been trying for over a decade to have a child of her own, without success.  Could she be the right person to adopt Théo and give him the upbringing he deserves?  This is the question the social services have to answer in the course of their fair and fastidious investigation...